Climate Change and Forest School in Wales. Draft 3

Climate Change and Forest School in Wales. Draft 3

Forest School Wales has produced this pack to help Forest School Leaders and other outdoor learning practitioners to address issues of Climate Change within their daily practise. It includes:

• A Forest School Carbon Calculatorto help each FSto reduce its carbon footprint
• Teaching notes linkingclimate change to central Forest School themes
• Resources including links to daily procedures, tailor-made games & activities, and ideas for special projects.

“Climate change is going to affect the way we all live, and we must address the twin challenges of reducing carbon emissions, and coping with the effects of an already changing climate.”

(Woodlands for Wales, Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategy

for Woodlands and trees, 2009)

(*) see Games section for answer!!

For more information scroll down or use the shortcuts below.

This pack is a starting point, which members of Forest School Wales will be developing throughout 2010. Feedback is encouraged please email or use comment box at bottom of this page.

Click here for PDF of whole pack

What is Climate Change?

What can we do at Forest School?

How to decrease your FS Carbon Footprint

FS Carbon Calculator

Trees as Climate Champions

Composting is good for the climate

Water & Toilets

Fires

Cooking & eating

Recreation

Make Your Own (MYO)

Climate Change games & activities

References and suppliers?

What is Climate Change?draft

How much detail do we want here?

Poss brief summary plus references for more information?

Main source of CO2 is from fossil fuels ~ oil, coal, gas

Either burnt to make energy for electricity ( heat, light, manufacture) and travel / transport; or used as raw ingredient for lots petrol chemicals etc ~ plastics, nylon, fertilizers, paints,

All these processes release CO2 into the atmosphere which has been locked up for millions of years.

Mention ancient and modern carbon

A few salient facts and figures....

Effects of climate change ~ difficult to be precise, but will include: food and water shortages, sea level rises, loss of habitats and biodiversity, migration of plants, animals and people....

For more information see

CAT

Rough Guide

Nature Conservancy website etc

“If the earth was as big as a football, the atmosphere would be as thick as a sheet of newspaper wrapped around it” roughguide

What can we do at Forest School?

1. Foster an awareness of Climate Change issues

Integrate Carbon Foot-printing into your daily practise. Use FS Carbon Calculator to see where you can improve. Include your students in this process. Make sure your policies procedures reflect these actions. Equip pupils with the skills to make low carbon choices in future.

1. Integrate sustainability issues into all aspects of the daily routine

Use Climate Change & sustainability words in your daily discussions and games, alongside environment and tree words. See Water, Toilets, Fires, Cooking, Recreation, MYO...

1. Encourage people to treat each other well

“Sustainability is about caring for the whole of the present population, future generations and the environment. These values can’t be prioritised without caring for the community of which one is part.” CAT education Dept.

Hence the Forest School maxim of “ respect for self, each other, and the forest”

1. Reduce use of vehicles

Find a FS site as close as possible to your school ~ maybe you can even walk!Can you beat the primary pupils in mid-Wales, who have a 20minute walk uphill to their FS?

If you do have to travel by road, don’t be afraid of a long walk into the FS site. Exercise during a normal FS day will be more than many pupils experience in a whole week. With familiarity and improved fitness pupils are more likely to choose to walking over cars at other times.

Source materials as locally as possible. Aeroplanes have much larger carbon footprints than other forms of travel (CO2 is more potent when released at high altitudes).

1. Foster an appreciation for trees as climate champions

Wood / trees have a big part to play in maintaining current climate and mitigating future change . At Forest School we already focus on the value of (sustainable) wood so we don’t have to change too much!! SeeTrees as Climate Champions

1. Practise using less “Take what you need, use what you take”

Cheap foreign labour and air travel means we have all got used to having lots more things than we really need, things which take energy to make and transport, and which we don’t take care of or repair, but which we quickly throw away using more energy in landfill and replacement.

It is not sufficient to rely on substitution alone, whether of wood products for non-wood, or renewable energy for fossil fuels. We have to get used to using less overall. This will become more urgent as the changing climate disrupts water supply and agriculture.

At FS we naturally have to do without many normal creature comforts ~ and we discover that we can still be warm, well fed, and richly entertained. We can improve by wasting less of the resources we do need like water, wood and food, and by taking care of tools and equipment so they last longer.

1. Change patterns of consumption

Relatively easy at FS because it is a microcosm of school or home, a relatively self contained system (control of purchasing), therefore easier to audit and change.

Lead by example. Use local, sustainable, organic, natural itemswith minimum packaging. Encourage pupils to read packaging information. Make pupils aware of the power of the ethical pound. See learning to choose below

1. Reduce water use ~ see Water
2. Reduce waste going into landfill

Acquire less in the first place. Source recycled materials. Reuse paper, containers and other materials (eg in craft projects). Recycle the rest. Compost food and human waste, and other biodegradable materials. SeeComposting

1. Foster appreciation for the home made and natural. see Make Your Own
2. Promote renewable sources of energy

Link to sun and wind; leaves as solar panels; sailing boats; make windmills, windsocks and kites; waterwheels, Solar ovens, wind and solarpowered machines.

1. Spread the word

Have labels and information around the FS site eg in compost toilet. Reach family and friends, school, wider community through: FS visitors day; magazines, assemblies, journals, newspapers and council magazines.

Tell Schoolabout curriculum links eg Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) and History.

Managing climate change in future will depend on us all having a better relationships with nature / woodlands. The FS process can help communities connect with their woodlands again ~ low tech ways to have fun!

Decreasing your FS Carbon Footprintdraft

How do we want to present this information?

Energy and transport are main causes of CC; food industry main?

Therefore we need to reduce our use of unsustainable energy, travel less, consume less. Air travel especially bad because greenhouse effect of gases is greater at higher altitude

Carbon footprint idea.. Small carbon footprint ~ MYO, local, natural. Use, clean and store equipment wisely. Use resources sparingly. Large Carbon Footprint ~XS packaging, anything disposable, damage to equipment, waste resources

Local / Sustainable / FSC ~ most important of all

organic, FairTrade ~ don’t choose instead of above

DIY and MYO( make your own) ~the ultimate in local minimum processing and packaging!

Wood better than metal better than plastic. Untreated wood better than varnish etc. Good quality to last; longevity important;

Learning how to choose

Basic principles ~Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle eg....

Refuse ~ tinfoil, wet-wipes and disposable cups and BBQs

Reduce ~ water, wood, paper, waste, general consumption

Reuse ~ cups, cutlery, cooking sticks, juice bottles, buckets

Repair ~ tools, kagools, tarps

Recycle ~ cans, bottles, food human waste (as soil for trees!), natural artifacts and dens (as habitats then soil).

Individual Responsibility ~Need to be integrating these into all our daily decisions.

Can do this gradually, every little helps, and simply setting a good example helps to raise awareness

At FS we have the advantages of kinaesthetic and experiential learning, reinforced over many weeks. In addition, we work on an emotional level, establishing relationships, setting a good example. This means that things learnt at FS potentially will be deeper felt and longer lasting than elsewhere. Touching hearts and minds to change long-term attitudes and values

Trees as Climate Champions

In nature everything is linked to everything else, and everything keeps going round and round (use WebofLifeand Webbing gameto illustrate).

Trees work for us ~store carbon (do Carbon LogChallenge); help with the soil and air cycles; make rain clouds and help the water cycle; buffer the effect of storms and rain, protect the soil, prevent erosion. (play Build-a-Tree, Build a planet, Interview with a tree, Blindfold Meet a Tree and other tree games~ how to reference?).

Trees also give us a huge range of resources. (play WeNeedTreesFor..). Sustainable wood and its resources and products have lower Carbon footprints than the petrol chemicals we favour today. Trees are part of the natural modern carbon cycle.They are sustainableas long as they are replaced at same rate as they are used. (Playcarbon relay games comparing wood and plastic items) (WAG reference)

Daily routine ~ Burn less wood, remember to leave some for Nature’s Recyclers the mini-beasts; Respect trees and don’t damage them; Find sources of recycled wood locally for projects and possibly burning (try builders and local council).

Coppicing is an ancient forestry technique which has shaped and increased the biodiversity of many of our modern woodlands. It is not only sustainable, but can be carbon neutral (small poles allow use of hand tools). Instead of felling and replanting whole trees, individual branches are harvested and allowed to re-grow. A FS camp is like the Bodgers’ camps which were widespread until coal replaced charcoal for steam engines. The wood is processed at source, and since it is green and soft, hand tools can be used. A shave horse and pole lathe are great additions to a FS site!

Deforestation contributes to climate change (in addition to all the other environmental nasties). (Play Squirrel bean bag game). The Ancient American redwoods are being mined to make toilet roll and flat-pack conservatories ~discuss with pupils, why we might say mining instead of forestry).Check for FSC label before buying wood and paper products.

Items made from untreated sustainable wood have a lower carbon footprint than treated wood (or plastic) even though they may have to be replaced more quickly. At Forest School we can work to overcome preconceptions about this, eg when students ask for varnish, tell them that untreated oak houses in Scandinavia have lasted for 400 years, maybe suggest a low carbon alternativelike beeswax?? (Have a discussion about a school commissioning a wooden sculpture for their grounds, get students to take the part of the school wanting value for money, and the environmentally friendly sculptor).

Grow your own trees and wooden resources

• Make your own tree nursery. Collect tree seeds, make you own pots and compost. FSW Hazel Resource

• Plant trees, in school grounds or other local woodlands. Ask Countryside Services or the Forestry Commissionabout sites and sourcing whips (young trees). After care also important. Make tree nests to protect saplings near your FS site. (Reference for after care

• Plant willow beds and manage elder to generate sustainable local resources for school / FS in future; plant edible hedges

Trees as History Teachers

Trees teach us about the climate.

Dendrochronology is the study of tree rings. With enough sun and rain trees grow quickly and make wide rings, whilst in a poor growing season the rings will be very thin. Across the world all tree rings will be relatively narrower following a major volcanic eruption because the ash decreases light and heat. (Encourage pupils to count and age trees whenever they see the rings. Can you also spot warm and cold years? Get a large disc and sand it, get pupils to mark on their birthdays and other major events.Remember to count from the outside inwards!)

Palynology is the study of pollen grains, which travel long distances. If you collect pollen grains under a tree canopy, most of them will have come from that tree and its nearest neighbours. If you collect grains from the middle of a lake or peat-bog you find pollen from plants across the whole valley or region. (Look at pollen raining down from the trees eg hazel catkins; how far can you blow them? How far do you think they can travel?).

Studying pollen and tree stumps preserved in peat bogs tells us about climates thousands of years ago, and helps us to model the effects of future changes.

Composting is good for the climate

Composting is one of the planet’s natural recycling systems, in which fungi, bacteria, and minibeasts turn natural waste into useful soil again. Some CO2 is released, gradually, due to respiration, but this was only recently fixed (ie is part of the “modern” carbon).

Natural waste includes food, paper, wood, cotton, wool, human waste

(all called “biodegradable”).

Natural waste should NOT be added to landfill, because lack of oxygen causes anaerobic decomposition which produces CO and CH4 ~ worse greenhouse gases than CO2.

• In the woods, compost your food wastein a shallow hole under a little earth, or scatter under hedges and in bramble patches. NB check Environmental Impact Assessment first! On sites with special designations or sensitive flora you may need to bring food waste home for composting.

• In school grounds collect the compost and use it to grow food and flowers. DIY compost has a lower carbon footprint than bought, and avoids devastating use of peat.

• Visit the Centre for Alternative Technology to learn more about composting:

• Minibeast link ~ pupils can hunt to check you have lots of Natural Recyclers around. Build Minibeast Hotels ~ piles of sticks, bark and rotting wood. Make Your Own minibeast from clay and sticks

Waterand Toilets

Our modern, western, mechanised lives have huge WaterFootprints. Energy is

also wasted in processing and pumping tap water and sewerage.

One litre tap water =?Watts electricity =?? grams carbon=??Degrees warming

Normal flush= ??? processed water=??? Electricity = ???CFP=???warmer

One of the main effects of climate change will be shortages of water as supply is disrupted. At FS we are naturally more aware of how much water we use and waste because we have to carry it all in. A day at FS naturally has a lower Water Footprint than at school or home ~ but there’s still room for improvement!

Daily routine

• Involve everyone in the group in carrying water, each carrying old milk / water bottles or using teamwork for large carriers.See if pupils can work out exactly how much they use at FS, includingdrinks, cooking, washing up, hand-washing and fire bucket

• Use water wisely. Practise careful pouring. Don’t take what you can’t use. Save water left at the end of the session for next week. (Tap Water ok for 3 wks reference??. Keep carriers dark to prevent algae growing, and clean regularly).
• Reduce washing up water:number cups so each pupil can use the same all day; use handfuls of leaves to scrub pans and plates clean before washing.

At FS we don’t use water to process our faeces and urine! Instead they are broken down by Nature’s recyclers ~ woodlice, worms, millipedes, fungi and bacteria.

• Work to overcome widespread resistance amongst pupils and staff to peeing outdoors, something Swedish educators see as a basic life skill. Discuss where is appropriate, and make your toilet area as pleasant as possible; include information about why it is good for the climate.

Projects

• Design a rain water collection system. Can you combine this with a solar water heating device for your hand wash water? (eg large shallow tray of water plus black bin bag)
• Water is also a good source of sustainable energy. Make you own waterwheels or use ready made models (CAT?? Maggies Book)

• Build a compost toiletand straw bale / leaf urinal. see FSW Advice sheet ???